Motorola’s bold claim that the Droid Turbo 2 (AKA the Moto X Force) has a “shatterproof” screen may sound like a marketing stunt, but now it’s been put to the test by the extreme drop testers of UnlockRiver on YouTube. The team strapped a Droid Turbo 2 onto a drone, flew it 900 feet (275 meters) into the air, and dropped it on concrete to see if it could survive.
The video shows the guys from UnlockRiver flying the drone up 900 feet above what appears to be a parking lot of some sort. You can see the Droid Turbo 2 dangling precariously from a white strap as the drone ascends. When the time comes to drop the phone, the 900-foot height is confirmed onscreen. After the phone comes crashing down onto the pavement, it certainly doesn’t remain unscathed, but it is fully operational.
Thanks to Motorola’s Shattershield screen technology, which stacks five layers of flexible plastic on top of an OLED screen for added protection, the Droid Turbo 2’s front isn’t completely shattered the way an iPhone’s display would be after such a dramatic drop. Only the top corner where the phone made direct contact with the pavement is really beaten up. The layers of plastic start to peel away, and it looks pretty rough, but the OLED panel itself appears to be intact. There isn’t any jagged glass, and most of the screen is free from scratches, dents, or cracks. The phone’s metal frame also made it through the drop test without much damage.
As anyone who’s ever dropped a phone from a measly feet feet knows, smartphone screens usually don’t survive falls with such grace. The fact that the Droid Turbo 2 looks this good after a 900-foot plunge is impressive. UnlockRiver has also put HTC’s One A9, the LG V10, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, and other phones through the same 900-foot drop test, and although they do better than you’d expect, most of the other phones didn’t fare as well as the Droid Turbo 2.
